Gender violence is a global commonplace, affecting people in all countries and cultures. Women are the most likely victims, and as the groundbreaking CIET national audit of sexual violence and HIV/AIDS in South Africa reveals, boys can be equally exposed in the years before early adolescence. In 2008 CIET conducted a systematic review of literature on gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS which was published in the journal AIDS. CIET is also conducting a pragmatic randomized controlled trial in Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland on AIDS prevention through reduced choice-disability. See related theme pages on HIV/AIDS and on Forced Sex and HIV/AIDS.

In Mexico, CIET has documented violence against women during pregnancy and its effect on their offspring. See Paredes-Solís S, Villegas-Arrizón A, Meneses-Rentería A, Rodríguez-Ramos IE, Reyes-de Jesús ML, Andersson N. Violencia física contra la embarazada: un estudio con base poblacional en Ometepec, Guerrero, México. Salud Pública Méx 2005;47:335-341.

In Nepal, CIET surveys uncovered links between childhood malnutrition and abuses against their mothers.

In Pakistan the CIET 2001-2004 social audit of abuse against women sought to define the extent of abuse against women in that country and to identify protective factors that could guide locally generated preventive actions to reduce the problem. See, also in Pakistan, Access to Justice for the Women of Karachi.

At the end of 2009 CIET received a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for a new CIHR Centre for Intercultural Research on Prevention of Gender Violence.